


Shrines in Sylvarant

by Soft_Smol_Pupper



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Clumsiness, Confusion, Desert, Embarrassment, F/F, Iselia, Lesbian Character, Luin - Freeform, Married Couple, Misunderstandings, Post-Game(s), Prayer, Shame, Spoilers, Time Skips, Triet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25993024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soft_Smol_Pupper/pseuds/Soft_Smol_Pupper
Summary: Sheena discovers something strange while tracking her target in the Triet Desert. Perhaps it's some sort of shrine that the people of Sylvarant made?
Relationships: Colette Brunel/Sheena Fujibayashi
Kudos: 14





	Shrines in Sylvarant

The midday sun beat down on Triet Oasis, engulfing the little village in the same burning light as the desert that surrounded it. Even standing beneath a merchant's canopy, Sheena could feel it threatening to dry her like seaweed. As she took her drink from the merchant, her eyes lit up. She hadn't properly prepared for a desert, and now the simple wooden canteen of water in her hand seemed more precious than anything in the world to her. But even that moment was quickly ruined.

"Miss! Cover your face!" The seller warned urgently.

"Wh-what!? Aaah!" Sheena was too slow. She wiped at her face, coughing and spitting. A gust of wind had kicked up some sand just as she'd started to drink, getting the coarse grains in her mouth. She growled and kicked at the sand beneath her foot. She knew that Sylvarant would be hostile. Overrun with monsters, and in a state of decay for centuries, with hardly any mana at all. But it was as if the world itself was out to get her.

"You'll want to watch out for that. The desert can be particularly cruel to strangers. And uh ... well, it's pretty obvious you're not from around here."

Sheena froze for a second, worried she'd been found out. But when the context set it, she relaxed, realizing he'd only meant she was obviously not from the desert. "Thanks." She said after a moment. "I'll keep that in mind when I head back out."

"Back out? On your way to Iselia then?"

"I ... yes? How did you know?"

"Well, we get some travelers from Iselia from time to time. Even just this morning we had a few show up. That village is the only thing on that side of the desert, and they don't dress anything like you do. So I figure you must be from the other side, out past the mountains."

"Y-yeah. That's right." She sighed. "I'm looking ... I need to go see someone." It was technically true, if a bit misleading.

"You might have waited a little longer to go see them. After all-" he pointed to the North-East. Across the desert and even the ocean beyond, an enormous tower could be seen reaching high above the clouds. "The Tower of Salvation has returned. If you'd waited until the World Regeneration, it would be a lot safer to travel."

Sheena shook her head. "I ... I can't wait that long. It's really urgent." She only had until the Regeneration to complete her mission. As the thought occurred to her, she corked her canteen. "I should actually get moving soon."

The shopkeeper nodded. "Alright then. I hope things go well with your friend, miss." He waved as she walked away.

 _They're not my friend_ , she thought to herself bitterly. She had come from another world to end all hope in this one. She was hunting Sylvarant's Chosen One, to prevent a World Regeneration that would leech the mana from her home, Tethe'alla. It hurt more with every person she met in this world. She'd told herself repeatedly that she wasn't damning this world, she was saving her own. But it was getting harder for her to accept. Her thoughts were interrupted by the excited sounds of a crowd gathering down the street. Sheena shrugged and moved closer to see what was so interesting, needing a distraction from her own head.

"What's all the fuss about?" She asked curiously.

"Look! Look at my wall!" An excited woman urged her.

Sheena looked past the crowd and saw it. There was a peculiar hole in the wall of one of the houses. It was shaped like a person. "Huh?" Sheena stared at it in confusion.

"People will come from all over the world to see this!" The woman continued. "It looks just like the Chosen!"

Sheena's eyes widened. "It does?"

The woman nodded. "Exact proportions, down to every detail!"

Sheena was even more confused than before. She looked again. It was just a bare wall with an allegedly Chosen-shaped hole in it. Was this what passed for a shrine in Sylvarant? Then it hit her. There was only one way this woman could have known that the proportions were accurate. "Wait! That means you've seen them!? You've seen the Chosen?"

"Yes! She was just here this morning!" The woman answered with enthusiasm. "Her Journey of Regeneration has started! It's exciting, isn't it?"

Sheena stared back with mixed emotions. She could not tell if she felt lucky or unlucky. Her target was on the move now, but very close. She looked at the hole, studying it carefully. If the Chosen had just arrived in this town, she'd be staying at the inn before making the rest of her way across the desert. This was her chance. She could make her move while her target slept, and then her world would be saved.

...

Sheena inhaled and smiled as she stepped into the village. It had been months since she had last set foot in the Triet Oasis, but it felt like so much longer. The sun warmed her every step, as if welcoming her back and trying to help her fight off her loneliness. Even as the world seemed to be falling apart, she felt a smile cross her face. She was almost to Iselia. This time she would cross the desert in its entirety. She moved to take a drink from her canteen before feeling a breeze. This time, she quickly blocked her face with her arm and covered the mouth of her canteen with her hand. A few grains of sand caught on her sleeve as if embracing an old friend.

She stopped at the peculiar shrine she'd seen before. A hole shaped perfectly like Sylvarant's Chosen, a girl she'd come to know as Colette, and who she had begun to care deeply for. She hoped the feeling was mutual. The thought so. After all, she was now returning to Colette's side after being trusted alone with a mission to help save all of Sylvarant.

But now, Sheena had become shaken. The entire village of Palmacosta had been destroyed. The Tower of Salvation had disappeared. And everywhere Sheena stopped on her way to Iselia, she heard rumors. People were scared. They were claiming that the world was ending and that it was all Colette's fault for failing to Regenerate the world. She hoped that Colette was safe.

Sheena wasn't surprised that there were so few people at the shrine, but it still made her angry. As her emotions shifted back and forth from fear to anger to hope and then back again, she knelt in front of the shrine. She didn't know how people prayed in Sylvarant, but her prayers should be as good as any other. She wished to whatever might listen that Colette would be alright when she found her.

A little boy saw her and knelt beside her, imitating her prayer. And before long, people had started to gather with her to make their own wishes.

...

It was not long after that Sheena arrived in Iselia, the village where Colette had grown up. She had always expected some huge bustling city like Meltokio. It was so strange to her that the people of Sylvarant would hide their Chosen away in some rural little village. But perhaps Iselia being small was for the best. Sheena had heard from the others about what had happened. There were people in this town that were angry with Colette, just like in the other towns she'd been to. The mayor had been particularly venomous.

Sheena was wandering in the village alone now. Colette was resting, and Sheena wanted some space. She was so angry at Sylvarant. That they could turn on an innocent girl who was willing to give up everything to help them. If it hadn't been for a few people standing up for her, Sheena might not have been able to keep her feelings bottled up.

As she explored, she found herself at Iselia's schoolhouse. The place where Raine had taught Colette, Genis, and Lloyd. Thinking that perhaps a look at such a prominent part of Colette's childhood could help settle her, Sheena stepped inside. But what she found in the classroom made her blood boil even hotter than before.

There was a shrine in the classroom, just like the one in Triet, exactly like Colette in every proportion. But this one was boarded up.

Sheena gritted her teeth and her hands balled into fists. "What is this!?" She demanded angrily. But there was no one to answer. "How can they be so hateful when you've done more than anyone could!?" She gripped one of the boards, growling in rage as she ripped it from the wall. One by one she pried them free, exposing the hole the boards had once covered. The thought that someone had vandalized Colette's shrine had reignited her fury.

...

The world was perfect, or close enough. It had been for over a year, ever since Sheena had moved to Luin with Colette. She stepped across the floor and sat by the window to look outside while she waited for Colette to come home with the groceries she'd left for. The view rocked back and forth, a sensation that took some getting used to at first, but she considered it one of the charms of living in a house boat.

Across the river, she saw the town fountain where she and Colette had gotten married, ornamented with a statue of the Unicorn of Lake Umacy. The townsfolk had wanted to put up a statue of Sheena in that place, to honor her for working so hard to help them rebuild the village. She had refused outright. It was embarrassing enough that they'd already put up a smaller statue of her in the town, and even more so that the people still treated her like the mayor.

Sheena heard the sound of footsteps on the deck and smiled. Her wife was home. Just as she stood up to go and open the door, she heard a scream outside. The wall next to the door exploded, spreading splinters across the floor. Colette was lying on the floor, having fallen through the wall.

"Colette!" Sheena shouted in concern, rushing to her side. She brushed the wood and groceries away from her wife and turned her over. "Colette are you okay!?"

Colette smiled up at her and nodded. "Y-yeah. I'm okay. I just tripped."

"You tripped!?" Sheena was stunned. "You tripped through a wall!?" She knew her wife was clumsy. She'd seen Colette trip dozens, possibly even a hundred times since they'd met, and usually over nothing at all. But this was the first time she'd heard of anyone falling through a wall.

She looked up at the hole and froze. "Y-you fell ... through the wall?" She stared in disbelief. The hole in the wall was shaped exactly like Colette. Sheena's face paled. "H-... Has this ... ever happened before?" In her heart she knew the answer, and hoped beyond hope that it wasn't true.

"Well, um ... yes." Colette admitted, her cheeks slightly pink with embarrassment.

But her cheeks paled in comparison to Sheena's. Her entire head became as red as one of the strawberries on the floor as she realized her mistake.

"Sh-Sheena? Are you okay?"

Sheena raised her hands, trying to cover her face and hide from her shame. "Oh no!"

"Sheena! Look! I'm okay! It's nothing!" Colette tried to calm her.

"I screwed up, Colette!"

"Wh-what!? What is it!? What happened!?"

Sheena looked at her, tears in her eyes and her face still bright red. "I ... I think I destroyed your school ..." She finally admitted.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I actually thought up a while ago when playing Tales of Symphonia for the first time. I'd noticed at one point that none of the other party members ever seem to have any thoughts one the holes that Colette leaves in her wake. I wondered what they might think of them and it occurred to me, what if Sheena didn't realize they were made by accident, and spent the entire game thinking they were important and no one ever corrected her?


End file.
